WE DO NOT BOOK APPOINTMENTS FOR PODIATRY OR PHYSIOTHERAPY AT LISSON GROVE HEALTH CENTRE. PLEASE CALL 020 7563 6100 BETWEEN 9am & 5pm.

Confidentiality

Personal Information

We are fully computerised. We are registered under the Data Protection Act and have robust systems in place to protect your confidentiality.

Personal Health information is used to monitor our screening activities. Anonymised health information is sent to the PCT to monitor quality standards and for payment verification purposes.

Please keep us informed of any changes to your personal details. Under the Data Protection Act you may view your records, speak to a doctor for information and charges.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges the practice to produce a Publication Scheme which is a guide to the ‘classes’ of information the practice intends to routinely make available - contact the practice manager for details.

Comments, Suggestions & Complaints

We offer a practice complaints procedure to deal with comments, suggestions and complaints about the services we provide. Any of our staff will give you further information. Our aim is to give you the highest possible standard of service and we try to deal swiftly with any problems that may occur. In the first instance, complaints should be directed to the Practice Manager.

If you are unhappy at the outcome of your complaint, you can also contact or report your complaint to:

The Health Service Ombudsman

The Health Service Ombudsman has published a booklet that describes the ‘six principles for remedy’ in relation to complaints handling and involves:

PALS (Patient Advice and Liaison Service)

The NHS employs over a million staff in thousands of locations. It is a large and complex organisation providing a broad range of services. It is not surprising that sometimes you or a loved one may feel bewildered or concerned when using the NHS. And this can be at times when you are feeling at your most vulnerable and anxious.

So, what should you do if you want on the spot help when using the health service? The NHS expects all members of staff to listen and respond to you to the best of their ability. But sometimes, you may wish to talk to someone employed especially to help you. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, known as PALS, has been introduced to ensure that the NHS listens to patients, their relatives, carers and friends, and answers their questions and resolves their concerns as quickly as possible.

PALS also helps the NHS to improve services by listening to what matters to patients and their loved ones and making changes, when appropriate.

What does PALS do?

In particular, PALS will:

Provide you with information about the NHS and help you with any other health-related enquiry

Help resolve concerns or problems when you are using the NHS

Provide information about the NHS complaints procedure and how to get independent help if you decide you may want to make a complaint

Provide you with information and help introduce you to agencies and support groups outside the NHS

Inform you about how you can get more involved in your own healthcare and the NHS locally

Improve the NHS by listening to your concerns, suggestions and experiences and ensuring that people who design and manage services are aware of the issues you raise

Provide an early warning system for NHS Trusts and monitoring bodies by identifying problems or gaps in services and reporting them.

Find out more

If you would like more information about PALS, the functions it is intended to provide and the standards it should strive to achieve , follow this link.

NHS Zero Tolerance Policy

Our team shall always show due respect and courtesy when dealing with patients and their representatives. In turn, we request patients and their representatives to do the same when dealing with members of the practice team.

No form of aggression, verbal or physical in nature, will be tolerated and any instances of such behaviour on the practice premises may result in the perpetrator being reported to the Police and removed from the practice’s List of Registered Patients

Equal Opportunities

The practice has a policy of non-discrimination against patients or staff with respect to age, race, colour, sex, religion, disability or sexual preference.

Facilities

Our premises are easily accessible by wheelchair and we have a wheelchair accessible toilet. Please inform the receptionist if you unable to climb stairs.

We have a room available for baby feeding and baby changing. Please take soiled nappies away with you as we have no disposal facilities.

In the interests of safety, prams, pushchairs, shopping trolleys and umbrellas must be left in the lobby area. In the interests of hygiene, please do not bring food, drink or animals (except guide dogs) onto the premises.

The Practice has a 'Did Not Attend' Policy and this applies to all of our patients.

Under the new NHS GP GMS Contract (2014/2015 requirements), all GP practices are required to provide an automated upload of any changes to a patient's summary information, at least once every working day, to the Summary Care Record (SCR).

We have been advised that we should put these requirements in place as soon as possible after 1 April 2014 and must, by 30 September 2014, publicise our statement of intent at the practice premises and, on our website. The Health Secretary has also set a deadline of April 2015 for practices to provide online access to their own records, which as a minimum means giving patients access to the information contained in their Summary Care Record upload.

Summary Care Records contain details of a patient’s key health information – medications, allergies and adverse reactions. They are accessible to authorised healthcare staff in emergency settings in England and can support better, safer prescribing of medication for patients by providing up-to-date information on a patient’s allergies, previous adverse reactions and medications. Patient care can be supported by healthcare staff having faster access to their medical information and patients may not be required to repeat information to different NHS staff treating them.

Over 60% of GP surgeries in England have already gone live with the SCR and 64% of patients nationally now have a Summary Care Record. Central London is currently one of only 4 CCGs in London not to have any practices uploading Summary Care Records (the others are Camden, Ealing, and Hillingdon).

The local NHS IT Strategic Team plan to start running all the relevant checks and assurance work on our system, and upload, and will train GPs and practice staff how to use the consent model. There is no fixed timetable for this roll out. We will keep patients informed by displaying posters and leaflets in the waiting areas and include information on our website and Newsletters. We will continue to record SCR opt outs at the point of registration. If this is not currently part of your registration process, it should be incorporated into it

Please note that this is the statement of intent that by September 30th Lisson Grove Health Centre will have had our system uploaded to the SCR and deliver SCR to our patients.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please feel free to Jeanette Creaser, practice manager or Amanda Gaffney, assistant practice manager.

Your Choice

You can choose to have a Summary Care Record. If you would like one, you don't need to do anything. It will happen automatically. If you don’t want a Summary Care Record you can opt out by signing the opt out form and giving this into the reception.

Local record sharing: how your information can be shared with local health services

Your records at the practice are held on a clinical system called SystmOne that allows the sharing of electronic records across different healthcare settings and you have choices about your NHS care records.

How is this different from the Summary Care Record?

The Summary Care Record is a national database which holds information regarding your medications, allergies and adverse reactions. Clinicians across England involved in emergency or unscheduled care have access to this. The Local Health Record is a locally shared record, allowing clinicians who are involved in your care at a local level to see a shared record rather than a national scheme. It also contains more information about your medical history.

Your Choice

You can choose to share your electronic record with other care services by sharing out. This controls whether your information entered at this service can be shared with other NHS services (i.e. made shareable). If you consent to this clinicians at other services that care for you and use SystmOne will be able to see the information recorded here. E.g. a district nurse.

You can choose to share your electronic record with other care services by Sharing in. This controls whether information that has been made shareable at other NHS care services can be viewed by that care service or not (i.e shared in). If you consent to this the Health Centre will be able to view information recorded on your patient record by other NHS services using SystmOne e.g. hospitals and community services.

You can choose not to share your electronic record with other care services i.e. not to share in or out by signing the opt out form and giving this in to reception.

It will be presumed if you agree to referral to another service that you consent to us sharing the information required for the referral.